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By Ger Browne

Index

Page 2 : The Great Houses of Parteen during WW1

Page 3: The List of those from Parteen in the Great War

Page 6: Individual Profiles - Men from Parteen in the Great War

Parteen and the Great War

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Parteen’s Great Houses during WW1

Used by the Royal Engineers prior to the WW1 for

training to construct pontoon bridges.

Francis Beresford Gloster: Parteen House, died Dec 1917 age 20, Royal Flying Corps, G/M in France.

He was an observer in a reconnaissance plane that was shot down. Francis and his pilot were buried

on the spot where they fell behind enemy lines. His family received some measure of comfort from a

letter of sympathy written by a German officer Lt. C. Mayweg, which was dropped from a plane onto

a British held position.. Son of George and Mrs A J Gloster.

Parteen House Parteen Home to the Vincent, Crowe, Kelly and Gloster families. The house is now demolished. The original

gate piers and gate are standing. See ‘Houses of Clare’ by Hugh W L Weir page 215.

Fairy Hill Parteen Home to the Godfrey, White, Burnard, McDonnell, Cantillon, Kearney, MacNamara, Barcley-Russell,

Plaice, Holmes, Stenson and Hanley families. Still standing and inhabited See ‘Houses of Clare’ by

Hugh W L Weir page 122.

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Francis Beresford Gloster: Born in 1896, lived at Parteen House, killed in action 3rd Dec 1917

age 20, Royal Flying Corps, G/M in France.(TB)

He was an observer in a reconnaissance plane that was shot down by artillery. Francis and his pilot were

buried on the spot where they fell behind enemy lines. His family received some measure of comfort

from a letter of sympathy written by a German officer Lt. C. Mayweg, which was dropped from a plane

onto a British held position. ‘Hurrying up I found two occupants dead. There were no external traces of

injury. Their peaceful smiling countenances testified to a rapid and painless death’. Son of George and

Mrs A J Gloster. See Clare Newspapers and WW1 pages 208 and 209.

Patrick Hartigan: Lived in Parteen, born in Limerick, killed in action 21st Dec 1914 age 33 in

Festubert, Royal Munster Fusiliers 2nd, G/M in France. Son of Patrick and Mary Hartigan. (TB)

Dec 21st /22nd 1914: ‘Slowly but surely the advance continued… Suddenly a shot rang out, followed by

another and then an inferno seemed to be let loose… The Munsters were 500 yards in advance of the

troops on either flank!... Officers and men were falling everywhere; in ten minutes 11 officers and over

200 men were hit….. Slowly, reluctantly and methodically, at about 4am on the 23rd, the shattered

remnants of the four companies filed back to their starting point, unconquered and unconquerable.’

(The 2nd Munsters in France HS Jervis)

Denis Alphonsus Hayes: Born in Parteen, lived in Kilmallock Co Limerick, died of wounds 9th

July 1916 age 29 in Loos, 7thLeinster Regiment 16th Div, G/M in France. Son of Thomas and Mary Hayes

Kilmallock. (TB) (At the end of August 1916, the 16th Division moved from Loos down to the Somme

sector.)

The List of those from Parteen in the Great War

The 5 who Died from Clonlara that are named on the WW1 Memorial in Ennis

and

John Kelly

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Private Martin Hayes: Parteen. He was a Labourer aged 18 when he enlisted on the 16th

Nov 1898 into the 3rd Bn Royal Munster Fusiliers 129474. Heserved in Soth Africa from 1900 to 1902 and

then served in India from 1902 to 1907. He was transferred to the Army Reserve in 1907 and re-engaged

in 1910. He served with the 2nd RMF in Aug 1914 and was taken prisoner at Etreux on the 27th Aug 1914.

He was released in Dec 1918. He was discharged in March 1919. (British Army WW1 Pension Records

fold3.com)

John Kelly: Born in Parteen Co Clare lived in Limerick, killed in action 10th Aug 1917 age 38 ,

8th Bn.Royal Dublin Fusiliers 41232, 16th Irish Div, G/M in Menin Gate Ypres, Belgium. Son of Patrick and

Bridget Kelly of Shannakyle, Limerick; husband of Alice Kelly, Limerick.(TB)

16th Div 1917: In early 1917, the 16th division took a major part in the Battle of Messines alongside the

36th (Ulster) Division, adding to both their recognition and reputation. Their major actions ended in the

summer of 1917 at the Battle of Passchendaele after, again, coming under the command of Gough and

the Fifth Army. In July 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres, although both divisions were completely

exhausted after 13 days of moving weighty equipment under heavy shelling, Gough ordered the

battalions to advance through deep mud towards well fortified German positions left untouched by

totally inadequate artillery preparation. By mid August, the 16th had suffered over 4,200 casualties, the

36th almost 3,600, or more than 50% of their numbers.

Dr Patrick Lane MC: from Quinpool, Parteen. Joined the British army after graduating from the National University. Serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps, he led the stretcher-bearers and had to provide medical treatment for injured soldiers in the middle of the battlefields under heavy fire before they were brought to safety.

According to a historical account, on one occasion, Dr Lane was speaking to another doctor when a shell fell between them, killing his medical colleague. As a result of his service and bravery, he was awarded the Military Cross, one of the highest decorations that the British state can award. Later in the war, he was awarded an additional bar.

Having returned to the mid-west, he worked with Limerick County Council as a doctor, tuberculosis officer, and school examiner. He died in 1968 at the age of 72. (Limerick Museum)

Private James ‘Jim’ Larkin: born 1893 in Shanakyle (Parteen) Co Clare. Joined the Irish

Guards Regiment. Younger brother of Jack. Registration number 11421. Following the war he returned

to Co Clare(Matt Phylan)

Parteen

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Private James Larkin: Larkin’s Cross,Parteen, Co Clare. He was a publican aged 21 when he enlisted in

1916 in the Irish Guards 11420. He suffered gas poisoning in Feb Feb 1918. His mother was Anne

Larkin.(British Army WW1 Pension Records 1914-1920 ancestry.com)

Patrick Francis Macnamara: Born in Limerick, lived in the USA, buried in

Kilquane Cemetery, Parteen Co Clare. Died 4th March 1919 (possibly from wounds during Canada’s

Hundred Days), Canadian Infantry (Quebec Regiment) 42nd Bn 3080114, 7th Infantry Brigade, 3rd

Canadian Division. Son of Mrs. MacNamara, of Quarry Rd., Thomond Gate, Limerick. Also

commemorated on a panel at Grangegorman Memorial. He stated that he was a male nurse, and was

living at Dorchester, Mass, USA. He named an Aunt in Dorchester as his next of kin. (TB)(PMcN)

Canada’s Hundred Days is the name given to the series of attacks made by the Canadian Corps

(including the 3rd Canadian Division) between 8 August and 11 November 1918, during the Hundred

Days Offensive of World War I. The Canadian Corps fought in the Battle of Amiens, Second Battle of the

Somme, Battle of the Scarpe, Battle of the Canal du Nord, Battle of Cambrai, Battle of the Selle, Battle of

Valenciennes and finally at Mons, on the final day of combat before the Armistice of 11 November 1918.

In terms of numbers, during those 96 days the Canadian Corps' four over-strength or 'heavy' divisions of

roughly 100 000 men, engaged and defeated or put to flight elements of forty seven German divisions,

which represented one quarter of the German forces faced by the Allied Powers fighting on the Western

Front.

However their successes came at a heavy cost; Canadians suffered 20% of their battle-sustained

casualties of the war during the same period. The Canadian Corps suffered 45,835 casualties during this

offensive.

J Minogue: Parteen. Dorsets. Wounded Nov 1916. CJ

Corporal John ‘Jack’ Larkin: born 1890 in Shanakyle (Parteen) Co Clare. US Army.

Older brother of Jim. He emigrated to the USA and lived in the New York area. He served with the 42nd

Infantry known as the ‘Rainbow Division’. They were deployed to France in October 1917. Jack was

wounded in the conflict. He returned to New York after the war. (Matt Phylan)

Parteen

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Lieutenant Francis Beresford Gloster

Francis Beresford Gloster: Parteen House, killed in action Dec 3rd 1917 age 20, Royal Flying

Corps, G/M in France. (TB) He was an observer in a reconnaissance plane that was shot down. Francis

and his pilot were buried on the spot where they fell behind enemy lines. His family received some

measure of comfort from a letter of sympathy written by a German officer Lt. C. Mayweg, which was

dropped from a plane onto a British held position. Son of George and Mrs A J Gloster.

Arras Flying Services

Memorial

Arras

Departement du Pas-

de-Calais

Nord-Pas-de-Calais,

France

Photo – Gerry Sadlier

The ARRAS FLYING SERVICES MEMORIAL commemorates almost 1,000 airmen of the Royal Naval

Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps, and the Royal Air Force, either by attachment from other arms of

the forces of the Commonwealth or by original enlistment, who were killed on the whole Western

Front and who have no known grave.

Lieutenant Francis Beresford Gloster

Clare Champion April 2003

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Private Patrick P Hartigan

Patrick Hartigan: Lived in Parteen, born in Limerick, killed in action 21st Dec 1914 age 33 in

Festubert, Royal Munster Fusiliers 2nd Bn, 4922, G/M in France. Son of Patrick and Mary Hartigan.(TB)

He died on the same day, in the same Regiment and the same Battalion as Thomas Griffin.

Private Patrick P Hartigan

Le Touret Memorial Richebourg-l'Avoue

Departement du Pas-de-Calais

Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France Panel 43 & 44.

Almost all of the 13,400 men

commemorated on the Memorial were

killed in actions along a part of the Western

Front that was the scene of some of the

heaviest fighting of the first year of the war.

In early December 1914 the Royal Munster Fusiliers 2nd Bn aided in the evacuation of the Ypres

Benedictine Convent, whose occupants subsequently established Kylemore Abbey in Connemara,

Ireland. The battalion was then moved south to the Festubert sector in France, and after a 36-hour

march were ordered on 22 December to fill a gap by taking two lines of trenches. There were 200

casualties in the first 10 minutes of heavy fire.

Dec 21st /22nd 1914 ‘Slowly but surely the advance continued… Suddenly a shot rang out, followed

by another and then an inferno seemed to be let loose… The Munsters were 500 yards in advance of

the troops on either flank!... Officers and men were falling everywhere; in ten minutes 11 officers

and over 200 men were hit….. Slowly, reluctantly and methodically, at about 4am on the 23rd, the

shattered remnants of the four companies filed back to their starting point, unconquered and

unconquerable.’ (The 2nd Munsters in France HS Jervis)

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Private Denis Alphonsus Hayes

Denis Alphonsus Hayes: Born in Parteen, lived in Kilmallock Co Limerick, died of wounds

9thJuly 1916 age 29 in Loos, Leinster Regiment 7th Bn 3502 16th Div, G/M in France. Son of Thomas and

Mary Hayes, Kilmallock. (TB) (At the end of August 1916, the 16th Division moved from Loos down to the

Somme sector.)

Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery Saint-Omer

Departement du Pas-de-Calais

Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France. Plot: II. C. 33.

St. Omer was the General

Headquarters of the British

Expeditionary Force from October

1914 to March 1916. It suffered air

raids in November 1917 and May

1918, with serious loss of life. The

Commonwealth section of the

cemetery contains 2,874

Commonwealth burials of the First

World War.

Photos – Keir McNamara

Private Denis Alphonsus Hayes

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Private John Kelly

John Kelly: Born in Parteen Co Clare lived in Limerick, killed in action 10th Aug 1917 age 38,

8th Bn.Royal Dublin Fusiliers 41232, 16th Irish Div, G/M in Menin Gate Ypres, Belgium. Son of Patrick and

Bridget Kelly of Shannakyle, Limerick; husband of Alice Kelly, Limerick.(TB)

Ypres (Menin Gate)

Memorial

Ypres (Ieper)

Arrondissement Ieper

West Flanders

(West-Vlaanderen),

Belgium

Panel 46

Private John Kelly

16th Div 1917: In early 1917, the 16th division took a major part in the Battle of Messines alongside

the 36th (Ulster) Division, adding to both their recognition and reputation. Their major actions ended

in the summer of 1917 at the Battle of Passchendaele after, again, coming under the command of

Gough and the Fifth Army. In July 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres, although both divisions

were completely exhausted after 13 days of moving weighty equipment under heavy shelling, Gough

ordered the battalions to advance through deep mud towards well fortified German positions left

untouched by totally inadequate artillery preparation. By mid August, the 16th had suffered over

4,200 casualties, the 36th almost 3,600, or more than 50% of their numbers.

The Menin Gate is one of four memorials to the missing in Belgian Flanders which cover the area

known as the Ypres Salient. The Salient was formed during the First Battle of Ypres in October and

November 1914, when a small British Expeditionary Force succeeded in securing the town before the

onset of winter, pushing the German forces back to the Passchendaele Ridge.

The MEMORIAL now bears the names of more than 54,000 officers and men whose graves are not

known.

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Private Patrick Francis MacNamara

Patrick Francis Macnamara: Born in Limerick, lived in the USA, buried in Kilquane Cemetery,

Parteen Co Clare. Died March 4th 1919 (possibly from wounds during Canada’s Hundred Days), Canadian

Infantry (Quebec Regiment), 42nd Bn. 3080114, 3rd Canadian Division. Son of Mrs. MacNamara, of

Quarry Rd., Thomond Gate, Limerick. He is also commemorated on a panel at Grangegorman.

Commemorated on a panel on

the screen wall in

Grangegorman .

Private Patrick Francis MacNamara

Kilquane Cemetery,

Parteen

In the North-East corner.

He was a male nurse, and

lived in Dorchester,

Massachusetts, USA. He

named an Aunt in Dorchester

as his next of kin.

Canada’s Hundred Days is the name given to the series of attacks made by the Canadian Corps

(including the 3rd Canadian Division) between 8 August and 11 November 1918, during the

Hundred Days Offensive of World War I. They fought in the Battle of Amiens, Second Battle of the

Somme, Battle of the Scarpe, Battle of the Canal du Nord, Battle of Cambrai, Battle of the Selle,

Battle of Valenciennes and finally at Mons, on the final day of combat before the Armistice of 11

November 1918. In terms of numbers, during those 96 days the Canadian Corps engaged and

defeated or put to flight elements of forty seven German divisions. The Canadian Corps suffered

45,835 casualties during this offensive.

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